Leader’s Kitbag – June 2019
Hi and welcome back to the 4iGroup monthly Leader’s Kitbag – our compilation of items to help leaders learn, lead better and thrive themselves.
This month as usual we divide our recommended intake into reading, watching and listening so you can immediately head toward the area which is both most accessible to you, and best suits your learning style. I confess that this month I’ve gone somewhat heavy on the reading area (just too much good stuff to recommend!) so apologies in advance to the more visually and auditory inclined amongst the 4i Leadership community, I’ll strive to present more of a balance in next month’s instalment.
Thanks in advance for reading, as always I welcome your comments so do reply if you’ve got any thoughts or suggestions on this month’s recommendations.
All the best,
Tim & all at 4iGroup
To Read
Articles/Blogs
Virtual Working – This article did the rounds on LinkedIn last month just after our last newsletter. If you didn’t read it then and do work from home or in a largely virtual team, it may well be of interest… Click here to read the article
Brain Food – we have a segment on this topic in our Leadership Wellbeing series Click here to go to this area on our website), and here’s a great update from Dr Sarah McKay. I’m a big fan of Sarah’s having met her a few years ago and completed her Neuroscience on-line course, she’s one of the best brains Australia has in my view! This article is part of a great series on brain-gut connection, if you enjoy the first article you can review the whole series on her site – Click here for the ‘Food for Thought’ article
Books
Great wandering fiction – Have we spoken about EQ? No? Well don’t worry, we will very soon! Last year whilst building our EQ program I came to appreciate the importance of reading fiction as a means to improve EQ. More to follow specifically on this as we build to the launch of the digital version of that program in the coming months. In the meantime, here’s what was for me the most emotionally engaging and empathy building fictional read I’ve had in the last few months – Wild by Cheryl Strayed, a tale of grief, self-discovery and becoming. If that sounds good, Click here to head to Australia’s own Booktopia and grab a copy.
Even more ways to increase Productivity and Quality – another favourite topic of mine. So as you may already know, I’m a big fan of Cal Newport Click here to see my review of Deep Work and his latest book tackles what is arguably one of the biggest challenges I’ve witness leaders grapple with in the workspaces of today – digital distraction. The solution as put forward by Cal? Digital Minimalism. As with Deep Work, he sets out both the empirical reasons why this topic should be taken seriously and proposes a series of ‘how to‘s‘ for you to experiment with and implement yourself. Again if this sounds good, head here to grab a copy – Sounds good – take me to Booktopia!
To Watch
Becoming Vulnerable – for anyone learning to be vulnerable as a leader, what this involves and how to go about it, I expect you’ve come across Brené Brown. If you haven’t, watch this now – Click to go to Brene’s TED talk ‘The Power of Vulnerability”
As someone more familiar with Brené’s work than with her as a person, I really enjoyed the recently released Netflix special “The Call to Courage”, which I highly recommend both for the quality of the content and the humour and insight into this brilliant mind the program provides – Here’s a link to the program on Netflix
To Listen
A podcast series I particularly enjoy because of the local leaders represented is Greg Robinson’s “No Limitations“. This episode particularly hit home for me, having met Vik Bansal a few times and also as I had Cleanaway as a client early on in my time in Australia. It was great both to gain an update on what both Vic and Cleanaway have been up to, and to hear Vik’s view on a leader’s role primarily being to create hope and a clear pathway to achieve it – Click here to go to the Apple podcast for this show
And try out “Masters of Scale”; a quirky series with a range of guests hosted by LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman. This episode provides a great portrayal of a stand-out female CEO, using diversity and minority ethnicity as a benefit, and planning a career like a business plan (another topic we’re building a course on – last plug for 4i I promise!). From Reid Hoffman’s podcast – Click to go to the Apple podcast of this show
4iGroup Update
Last but not least and briefly this month, we’re continuing to develop our digital services. So expect to hear more on this very soon, including invitations to participate in pilot programs for those that are interested. Initial topics will include – Learning Emotional Intelligence, Productivity for Knowledge Workers and Attracting Leadership Talent.
